BLAZERS FALL 7-4 TO WINTERHAWKS AT HOME

By Colton Davies – Follow Colton on X

The Kamloops Blazers hosted the Portland Winterhawks on Friday night, kicking off their first set of back-to-back games.

The first period opened up quickly with a goal from Winterhawks defenceman Carter Sotheran just 26 seconds into the period. Portland struck early, as defenceman Carter Sotheran scored just 30 seconds in to set the tone. The Blazers pushed back immediately and nearly found the equalizer on a wild sequence when Winterhawks goaltender Ondrej Stebetak charged out of his crease to make a desperation stop on Joaquin Geras.

Portland would extend their lead shortly after. Ben Miller made it 2–0, and Jake Gustafson added another, giving the Winterhawks a 3–0 advantage. The Blazers continued to battle, including a spirited old school centre ice scrap between Blazers’ Carson Olsen and Winterhawks’ Nathan Brown. The momentum shifted for the Blazers and Cooper Moore delivered a slick pass to Josh Evaschesen who cut the lead to two.

The second frame opened with chances at both ends, as JP Hurlbert and Tommy Lafreniere each tested Ondrej Stebetak, but the Portland goaltender stood tall to keep Kamloops from closing the gap early. Portland would then strike as Nathan Free ripped one past Edmonstone to make it 4-1. Portland would add another from Tyson Yaremko making it 5-1.

The Blazers would respond, as Evaschesen would wire a shot past Stebetak for his second of the night to make it 5-2. Kamloops nearly got another one when Kayd Ruedig and Owen Cooper found themselves on a two-on-one but were robbed by Stebetak.

Kamloops got the third period off on the right foot as Lafreniere fired an awkward angle shot that found its way past Stebetak. Kamloops nearly struck again when Nathan Behm knocked the puck into the net on a scrambling play, but it was ruled no goal upon further review.

Portland would then get one as Gustafson found the back of the net for his third goal of the game. Edmonstone came up with a big save on a three-on-one, sprawling to get the pad out. Kamloops continued to battle and was rewarded on a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing sequence from Hurlbert to Lafreniere to Behm, who ripped it home to make it 7–4.

Kamloops will play the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday at 6:00.